Dancing in the Rain

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia, Public domain)

Of course, I can’t dance. I didn’t grow up dancing. The closest I’ve gotten to dancing lately was during a volleyball game. I was already in motion, arms stretched and angled in front of me as I ran to save the volley. That’s when I heard my son yell, “Out!”

The ball was about to connect with my arms and there was no way I could reverse my momentum. But, if the ball was already out-of-bounds, I didn’t want to connect with it! I did the only thing I could do. My arms opened up, the ball glided gracefully through, and bounced to the ground. Saved!

“What are you doing over there? Dancing?” someone yelled out.

Yes, I was dancing. Even though I can’t dance, I was dancing. A potential loss of the volley was saved because, in that moment, I learned to dance.

Likewise, we need to learn to dance through the potential difficulties in life. At times, life is a breeze, and we have no problem dancing, so to speak. At other times, life can become so sprinkled with difficult circumstances and stresses that we find we’re not “dancing” any more. We’re just surviving. We become so focused on the difficulties that we lose sight of the joys of life.

We need to learn to dance in the rain. Not after the storm has passed, but while it’s still raining.

The Bible will back us up here. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 we read: “Rejoice always.” Not just when the sun is shining brightly. Not just when things are going smoothly.

We need to learn to rejoice even when the sky is black and the rains torrential. We need to learn to rejoice in the rain.

A potential loss of joy can be saved when we learn to dance in the rain. Let’s not lose that potential.

I still jump in puddles – with both feet. I can’t help myself. I encourage others to do it, too. I made a big boo-boo yesterday, and once I got over the initial shock, I just sat and lauged at myself. Hard. It felt wonderful, and the boo-boo didn’t seem so bad after a good string of guffaws.